"A painting is much more than just decoration, or a memory of an event, or a didactic statement about the structure of a situation....Many works would be senseless, real junk, but for the fact that, being art, they are exhibited because they have a message of almost religious importance, interpreting man and his world--yes, perhaps even as junk" (18, Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, Rookmaaker).
I'm doing research for a presentation I'm giving on the 17th to a group of high school students. The topic covers a very broad subject, but one which deals with very specific problems. As intimated above, the topic is art. My working definition is hinted in the above: "much more than just decoration", but also much more than a painting.
I am curious to hear any of your thoughts, but particularly your answer to the following:
What is "art"?
I'm doing research for a presentation I'm giving on the 17th to a group of high school students. The topic covers a very broad subject, but one which deals with very specific problems. As intimated above, the topic is art. My working definition is hinted in the above: "much more than just decoration", but also much more than a painting.
I am curious to hear any of your thoughts, but particularly your answer to the following:
What is "art"?
I think it's like trying to describe music - the sum of the whole is greater than the parts. The painter (or photographer, or sculptor, or what-have-you) not only reproduces what his or her mind has perceived, but also imbues it with emotion and bias. Art is a vehicle for those things we cannot express easily, or at all, with words. It is opening our heart for others to see.
ReplyDeleteWhat she said. lol No seriously, that was very well put. The only thing I could possibly add is that in my mind, true "art" evokes a visceral reaction in those who view it...whatever the emotion may be, it is real and it is immediate and it lingers thereafter. Anything else is just a pretty decoration.
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